What was the incident that caused Miss Havisham to stop her clocks and become a recluse in Great Expectations? What part might this incident have...

Miss Havisham stopped the clocks when she was jilted on her wedding day, so she wanted to get revenge on men through Pip and Estella.

When Miss Havisham was younger, she was supposed to marry Compeyson.  However, he jilted her on her wedding day after colluding with her half-brother Arthur.  The experience so affected her that she let her house go to waste and became a recluse.  She tells Pip she has not seen the...

Miss Havisham stopped the clocks when she was jilted on her wedding day, so she wanted to get revenge on men through Pip and Estella.

When Miss Havisham was younger, she was supposed to marry Compeyson.  However, he jilted her on her wedding day after colluding with her half-brother Arthur.  The experience so affected her that she let her house go to waste and became a recluse.  She tells Pip she has not seen the sun since he was born.

It was when I stood before her, avoiding her eyes, that I took note of the surrounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine. (Ch. 8)

Miss Havisham stopped all the clocks, and never took off her wedding dress.  She was getting ready when she got the news, so she remained with one shoe on and one off.  That was how Pip first saw her.  She later also showed him her bride-cake, moldering and insect infested.  It was all part of her retreat from life.

Miss Havisham developed a convoluted plan to get revenge on men, since one betrayed her.  She adopted Estella and carefully trained her to make a boy fall in love with her and then break his heart.  Pip was her practice, and it worked perfectly.

"Hear me, Pip! I adopted her, to be loved. I bred her and educated her, to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!"

She said the word often enough, and there could be no doubt that she meant to say it … (Ch. 29)

Pip fell completely in love with Estella.  She ruined him for any other woman.  He pined for her for years, imagining that Miss Havisham was his benefactor and preparing him for her.  As it turned out, that was just what she let him believe.  In the end, neither was capable of loving anyone.